


Serendipity

by firemskies



Category: Room of Swords (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, M/M, Multi, Teenage Drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-06-27 22:25:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19798996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firemskies/pseuds/firemskies
Summary: After a chance encounter with the most popular tech nerd in Swords High, Kodya’s life takes a tailspin— hopefully for the better.(The high school AU no one asked for.)





	1. a leisurely swim

“2:45!”

Gyrus burst across the finish line.

He let momentum carry him to a halt, wheezing all the while, doubling down with his hands on his knees. _Bending over makes it worse._ Gyrus stubbornly pushed himself upright and staggered off the track.

Blood rushed to his head.

_Inhale, exhale. In, out._

His head spun with adrenaline. On leaden legs, he staggered off the track. _Lead is Pb._ His mind flipped to his chemistry homework, then to the agenda for Robotics Club _because now he was club president holy shit_ —back to coughing his lungs out.

A whistle pierced the air; track time trials were over. Coach Don shepherded the varsity boys into a line. Gyrus fell into step behind the frontrunners and rattled off his time to Coach Don, who scratched it onto his clipboard and dismissed him.

“Gyrus!” A jubilant shout soared over the stadium. Gyrus pinned the voice to a grinning face framed by memorably flaming red hair, rushing toward him.

“Ye were amazing!” Tori gushed. The fencer and varsity track extraordinaire clapped his sweat-soaked shoulder.

Gyrus smiled warmly at her. “Thanks, Tori! So were you.”

Tori Grieve had been his friend since freshman year. A talented athlete, she was dependable and sweet, and ran with him all the time. They had only grown closer, sharing runs and lunches.

They jogged a cool-down mile and parted ways indoors. He toweled off in the locker room, pulling on fresh clothes and hoisting his textbook-laden backpack. Gyrus prepared for an evening of physics homework, club planning and (hopefully) a good night’s rest.

Shadow Lake wrapped around Swords High School like a dark moat. Gyrus stepped onto the bridge, savoring the sunset. The clouds blew across the ombre skies, and he let the last remnants of sun warm his aching legs.

A scream split the evening.

Gyrus looked up, startled. Rapid footsteps pitter-pattered across the old wood planks holding the bridge together. They grew closer, and panicked yelling permeated the quiet air.

A tall dark-skinned girl dashed towards him, thoroughly frazzled, waving her arms frantically. She zoned in on him, pleading “Help! Help!”

“Someone fell in the lake!”

Kodya Karevic was _blazing_ mad. He stormed out of archery practice, making sure to slam his door in Three’s face on the way out.

Three’s smug face swam in front of his vision. _“Ya think you could become team captain? A little gremlin like you can mosey off the team. Guess you weren’t good enough, midget.”_

A hulking senior standing seven feet tall, Three Devilish was the Swords High Archery captain, and couldn’t resist rubbing it in the face of anyone who would listen.

The problem was that Three wasn’t _actually_ the best archer on the team— _Kodya_ was. As far as Kodya was concerned, the team captain only held that title due to seniority. It was Kodya who stayed longer, practiced harder. He’d even helped out the freshmen!

Unable to resist Three’s jeering jibes, Kodya shot back _exactly_ where Three could stick his title, throwing in a few Russian expletives for good measure.

Then Kodya got suspended from archery practice.

For _three whole days_. Oh, what bitter irony.

Kodya threw open the double doors framing Swords High's entryway. He stormed onto the bridge jutting out over Shadow Lake and made for the parking lot. Someone passed him from the left, typing distractedly on her phone. At first, Kodya barely noticed her, still fuming at his misfortune.

A wooden plank, worn from decades of weathering, jutted up from the bridge.

The girl, on her phone, tripped over it.

The motion sent her rocketing forwards into Kodya, who yelped in surprise and threw up his hands. He shoved her back towards the bridge, on instinct, but the girl's momentum had already transferred to Kodya. He tipped over backwards, backpedalling into air, and splashed headfirst into Shadow Lake.

The weight of Kodya’s archery bag dragged him downwards, into the opaque depths. He dropped through the water like a stone.

His head slammed against a jagged rock, pain blossoming in sharp tendrils from the back of his skull, and he sunk down, down, down…

Nephthys surveyed the scene before her worriedly.

The green-haired guy she had found on the bridge had thrown off his backpack and without hesitation dove into the lake. Neither he nor the brown-haired boy had surfaced yet, and she was beginning to wonder if they had drowned.

She wondered whether to call 911, throw in a rope somehow, maybe jump in herself (and then recalled that she couldn’t swim).

Nephthys peered nervously at the lake.

Its surface rippled.

A hand slashed to the surface, frantically clawing at the water, followed by a mop of bright strawberry green hair. Nephthys gasped and rushed over, reaching in to grasp his hand. She pulled him onto the bridge, and he gulped in air, dragging the brunette from the black depths. The two of them flopped onto the wood, sopping wet.

“Call 911,” the green-haired boy gasped.

Nephthys dialed emergency services and handed off the phone, beginning CPR. The static from the receiver gave way to “Hello?”

Nepthys switched off on chest compressions with the green-haired boy and took her phone back. “ _Uhh_ —Someone just fell into Shadow Lake and is unresponsive! Address? OH, we’re at Swords High School, it’s 666 Room Avenue-”

The brown haired boy jerked up, coughing. He fell backwards, clutching his head.

“Never mind, he’s alive!” Nephthys amended herself. “I mean responsive!”

While she talked, the green-haired guy supported the other boy gingerly. “You okay, kid?” He shuddered through his clothes from the frigidity of the lake bottom. “I’m Gyrus,” he introduced himself.

The other boy just stared at him, saying nothing. _He must be in shock._

“GYRUS!” Don, the track coach, rushed out from the entranceway, a gaggle of students behind him. “What is going _on? Ay, dios mío,_ what happened here?”

What Kodya _meant_ to say is “I’m Kodya,” or something else intelligible.

What he actually told Gyrus, in a hoarse, lake-scratched voice, is “You’re beautiful,” followed by a strange jumble of consonants. And then he passed out, and his life just went downhill from there.


	2. a hallway confab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kodya meets his nemesis, blows his cover, and makes a friend.

_You're beautiful._

Kodya had a headache. His mind swirled with visions of muddied water and flashes of spring green.

He dragged his mind from the steady throb at his skull to the test tubes propped up on the counter. Acid sunk to the bottom of a translucent flask.

Kodya leaned back and winced as blindingly white ceiling lights seared his retinas. They illuminated the counter and faucet, presumably so the science department didn't accidentally cause an explosion with the wrong chemicals. Or something.

Anan, his lab partner, tipped the flask to pour a steady stream of hydrochloric acid into a test tube. Kodya was certain Anan poured over the 50 mL mark, but he remained silent. Class would end soon anyway.

"...you got the concussion while rock climbing? That's rough, buddy."

Oh, _right._ After the mortifying incident at the lake, culminating in a night at the hospital, Kodya decided to tell everyone he was injured in a rock climbing incident. It sounded infinitely cooler then _I fell off the bridge to the parking lot and drowned in Shadow Lake._

Anan continued on. "Did you hit it while rappelling down a boulder? I hear the Shadow Hour Cliffs can be pretty brutal."

"Uh... yeah. Sure." Kodya had no idea what Anan was talking about. Kodya never rock-climbed a day in his life. 

He wondered if he should have picked a better cover story. 

Thankfully the bell rang. Kodya gratefully vacated his chair, and zipped into the hallway. 

_Saved by the bell... Literally._

His relief was interrupted by a high-pitched squeal from behind him: _"Nepthys?"_

Kodya turned, and came face-to-face with none other than Nepthys. Anan stood behind her, starry-eyed. "Kodya," he said, "you know _Nepthys?"_

Her silky ebony ponytail hung down to her waist; some flyaway strands tickled Kodya’s arm as she leaned into him playfully. Her bright eyes were highlighted with red powder to accentuate her maroon sweater.

"Of course he does!" She proclaimed with a giggle. " He nearly died saving my life the other day, and now we're besties! Right, Kodya?"

Both 'saved her life' and 'besties' were a stretch, and Kodya almost told her so. Then he remembered his rock climbing cover story, and blanched. Nepthys slung an arm around Kodya, and he readily allowed Nepthys to steer him away from Anan.

"You _may_ be intrigued to know..." As they rounded the corner, Nephthys whirled on Kodya. "I just discovered the identity of your knight in shining armor. Your dashing Prince Eric, rescuing you from the deep."

The reference was lost on Kodya, who looked at her, bewildered. 

Nephthys sighed and elaborated. "Prince Eric, from _The Little Mermaid_!"

" _The Little M—oh_. You mean that guy from the lake?"

"Yes! So, as it turns out..." Nepthys leaned in conspiratorily, eyes shining with excitement. "he was none other than _Gyrus Axelei_."

The name rang no bells for Kodya. He looked at her blankly. "Who?"

"Oh, come _on_ , Kody! You know, the tech wiz! He's on the announcements like, every other week for winning a math competition. I'm pretty sure he fixes phones too." Nepthys glanced not-so-subtly at Kodya's banged-up, slightly waterlogged Android. "Maybe he could look at yours."

"Oh, yeah." Kodya thought the name sounded vaguely familiar now. "Maybe."

They walked on. 

Kodya mulled over this new development. _Gyrus Axelei._

He snapped out of his reverie when he heard a tiny squeak of horror from Nepthys. Kodya looked at her inquisitively; she looked nauseated beside him. He followed her gaze.

Nepthys schooled her face into a grimace of a smile and ground out, “Hello, Two.”

The girl in question looked down her nose at Nephthys as if she were a speck of dirt beneath her pearly white stilettos. She tossed her flowing silver hair with a careless flick of her wrist. She stirred a deep-seated feeling of distaste in Kodya immediately, and for one reason only: the girl bore an uncanny resemblance to Three.

“Who are you again?” Two seemed to just notice Kodya, and shifted her attention to leering at him predatorily. Kodya recoiled, wondering if this was some sort of intimidation tactic. 

Nepthys glared at the stiletto-clad menace, stepping in front of Kodya protectively and speaking her piece. “Two, don’t pretend you didn’t steal my cheer scrunchie last practice. I need it back. We have a game next week.”

“Why would I steal _your_ scrunchie?”

Nepthys worked her jaw angrily for a moment, and then said “I saw you take it.”

“Get your eyes checked, Neph tits. I have places to be.”

A throbbing pain tugged at Kodya’s temples, snatching away his restraint. 

“Christ,” he said, “for someone with two lazy eyes it's awfully bold of you to ask someone else to get their eyes checked. Maybe _you're_ the one who needs their eyes checked because you're such a goddamn giant I bet you can't even see yourself in a _mirror_ you're so tall. Actually, I think I can confirm that you've never even seen a mirror before or you'd be acting a lot more humble for someone so goddamn _ugly_.”

The entire hallway fell into a stunned silence. Nephthys gaped like a fish out of water in horrified amazement. Hallway chatter abated as students stared at the spectacle.

Two looked affronted at the suggestion. Her face went purple from rage.

“Who the hell do you think you are?!” she growled, flexing her red nails like sharp claws. Then she sneered, and her eyes narrowed with newfound cunning. “Wait a minute. I recognize your pretty face. You were on my brother’s archery team.”

The reminder of Three’s existence coupled with the past tense _were,_ as if he was suspended permanently and not temporarily with a concussion, sent Kodya into a mild rage. He opened his mouth, fully ready to throw down with this prissy cheerleader, but then the late bell rang. All three of them were late to class.

“Tch!” Two sniffled and stormed off in a huff. 

“We should go,” Neph mumbled, voice trailing off. 

Kodya was still seething with rage as he followed Nephthys to the door of their English classroom. “Nephthys, why didn’t you stand up to her?”

Nephthys looked at him defensively. “I did!” Then her bravado failed her and she slumped forward in defeat. “It didn’t work.”

Kodya persisted. “She was wearing a scrunchie. You could have stolen it back off her head.”

A perfectly lined eyebrow shot up, and Nephthys laughed in surprise. “Perhaps I could have, Kody. You may be right.”

* * *

Sylvia swiped her drumsticks idly between her fingers. Spinning them from hand to hand, she tossed one up and caught it. She leaned back in her chair and balanced it on two legs, yawning in boredom. _I’m soo hungry…_

The low hum of voices faded, and Syl gasped, realized that everyone had left. She had somehow zoned out through the entire pep band meeting. Her chair tumbled forward, and its legs hit the tiles with a resounding metal _CLANG_. 

“Sylvia!”

Syl’s eyes shot open, and she spun toward the voice. ‘GYRUS!’ Sylvia signed exuberantly, leaping up to greet her friend.

Gyrus grinned and brandished a sandwich wrap nestled in brown paper. “I got you lunch.”

_Hell yeah!_ Sylvia was _ravenously_ hungry. She rushed forwards and enveloped Gyrus in a bear hug to thank him. They both laughed as she lifted him off the ground. 

Nepthys and Kodya peered out from the door to the band room.

“That’s him, right?” Kodya asked in a hushed voice.

Nephthys nodded, then realized he couldn’t see her. “Yeah, the guy she’s picking up. See how his bangs look kind of like a strawberry?”

Kodya squinted at the pair of them, munching sandwiches by the drum sets. His eyes widened in revelation. “You’re right.”

Gyrus handed off the sandwich to Sylvia. She snatched it from him eagerly. 

“So, talk to me,” he said, leaning on a chair. “How’s band going?”

Sylvia couldn’t answer him. She was busy satiating her famished stomach.

“Do you think they’re dating?” whispered Kodya.

“I don’t think so,” Neph assured him. “See the distance between them? That’s friend territory.” 

They watched in muted awe as the pink-haired girl in the green crop top practically inhaled the sandwich. It was down her gullet in two voracious gulps. She smacked her lips and sighed contently. Gyrus tentatively handed her a chocolate bar. She chowed it down too.

“I think’s she’s leaving!” Nepthys pointed at the girl, who had punched Gyrus on the shoulder gratefully, then hauled a drum-set into a storage closet with ease. “Now’s your cha—”

“—Kodya?!”

Before she could finish her sentence, Kodya was already inside the band room. Nepthys’s jaw fell and she hid behind the door frame. _Wow, he’s going for it!_

Sylvia set the drums down and strolled into the percussion section, utterly content with life. She decided to hunt in her bag for more food. Maybe even Gyrus’s bag— _wait no, he already got me food._

A stranger—a tall brunette with broad shoulders and spiky hair—seemed to have struck up a conversation with Gyrus. He braced his head on his elbow awkwardly, and looked lost for words. Sylvia peered at him curiously. 

“—ey, Gyrus.”

Gyrus’s eyes were blown open to the size of dinner plates. “You’re that kid!”

The brunette winced at the word _kid._

Gyrus took no notice. He was all muted panic and concern. “Oh my god, are you okay? I saw them take you in an ambulance. Oh geez, I can’t believe I didn’t check in.”

“Y-yeah! I’m fine!” The brown-haired boy rushed to placate him. “I just... “ He gesticulated awkwardly to a thin strip of bandages circling the back of his head. “Nothing major.

“Actually, I wanted to thank you! For—for saving my life,” he elaborated. 

Gyrus’s cheeks pinked a little. “It was no problem! I’m glad you’re fine.”

“I’m Kodya.” The brunette was locked on Gyrus’s gaze.

Gyrus grinned. “Hey, Kodya. I’m Gyrus.”

Meanwhile, Anan slipped into the band room past a disgruntled Nephthys. He made a beeline for Sylvia, who hadn’t seen him yet.

Sylvia, meanwhile, had snuck around Gyrus, to grab her bag. Both of them looked at her and she froze, caught in their conversation. 

‘You can talk,’ she signed to Gyrus with a quirked eyebrow.

“Oh yeah, this is Sylvia. Sylvia, this is Kodya! Do you remember the kid who drowned in the lake on Monday?”

Sylvia _did_ remember. She nodded vigorously. ‘Tori told me!’

Anan slung a casual arm around Sylvia, who looked at him questioningly. “Dude, Monday? Didn’t you have the rock-climbing thing on Monday?”

Kodya’s eyes went wide as saucers. “Uhh…”

Gyrus spun to face Kodya, looking horrified. “You went rock-climbing with a concussion?”

Kodya looked trapped. “Uh… no…?”

Just as Nephthys decided to make her grand entrance and rescue Kodya from the awkward situation, Gyrus’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He brought it to his ear. “Hey, Oli? Oh, geez. I’ll be right there.”

Gyrus pocketed his phone. “Sorry, guys, I have to go.” He looked at Kodya. “Don’t fall in any more lakes.” 

Nephthys and Kodya watched him speedwalk to the door, thoroughly nonplussed. Sylvia, however, was used to his antics, and took the time to slide out from under Anan’s arm and chow down on a granola bar she swiped from Gyrus’s bag.

“What just happened?” Anan asked.

“Well,” Neph said cheerily, patting a disgruntled Kodya’s shoulder, “I think that went _splendidly._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was beta read by radbee!

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why I wrote this
> 
> Please comment, I'd love your feedback! Chapter 2's coming soon :)


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